Flays killing of 62 vigilante group members

President Muhammadu Buhari has tasked security agencies to always deploy strategies that would scuttle plans by terrorists before they attack innocent citizens.

This came as the President expressed sadness over what he described as “the brutal murder of tens of vigilante members in Kebbi State by bandits, who, on Sunday, ambushed them in the Sakaba/Wassagu Local Council.”

Gunmen ambushed and killed at least 62 members of a volunteer vigilance group in Kebbi, the head of the group and a police spokesman said, is the worst violence to hit the state since mid January.

“They laid ambush, hid their motorcycles in the shrubs, circled us and opened fire from different directions,” Sani, a retired soldier, said, yesterday. He added that 62 people had been killed.

President Buhari said: “This egregious level of criminality is shocking and I want to assure Nigerians that I will do all it takes to tackle this monster decisively.”

In a statement signed by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, yesterday, Buhari said: “My greatest preoccupation is the threat to life posed by these murderous gangs and remorseless outlaws, who have no slightest regard for the sanctity of life.”

“While extending my sympathy to the families of the victims of this savagery, let me use this opportunity to also call on our security forces to be more proactive and redouble their efforts to frustrate the operational plans of the terrorists before they even launch attacks,” the President added.